Browns tell Johnny Manziel to start acting "like a backup quarterback"

[Auggie]

Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam says the Browns have told Johnny Manziel to start acting "like a backup quarterback."

Haslam praised Manziel for being an "ultracompetitor" but reiterated that Brian Hoyer is the team's starting quarterback and Manziel will have to beat out the veteran in training camp. Haslam made it clear that Manziel "is not the starter. Johnny's the backup."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10921566/johnny-manziel-teammates-cleveland-browns-not-ready-anoint-starting-quarterback

[El Supremo]

1. They just released Vince Young.

He was a brown for just 11 days.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/Browns-release-quarterback-Vince-Young-5471606.php

[Auggie]

2. Wow … he must have been the insurance if Manziel didn't pan out

Thanks for posting that

[hughee99]

8. Having Vince Young as quarterback "insurance" is like having 1 broken roller skate

as "insurance" in case your car breaks down.

[nomorenomore08]

3. Probably best to give him a year or two on the bench anyway.

A lot of first-year starters don't pan out so well, to say the least.

[El Supremo]

4. My gawd! He's only 21.

I thought he was only 20.

[nomorenomore08]

5. The younger his career starts, (most likely) the better. Especially considering how short a typical

football career tends to be.

[JonLP24]

10. AdvancedNFLStats actually took a look at that

Found no difference between starting right away to waiting on the bench as far as careers go and came to an obvious simple conclusion - teams should start the best QB on roster whoever that is.

Cleveland should do the same but it'll be a rough year for them if Brian Hoyer is that QB.

[nomorenomore08]

12. So benching a guy for his first year or two makes no sigificant difference? Interesting. I hadn't

realized that... Hopefully Manziel has the raw talent (and good luck) to make it, which would certainly help break Cleveland's long streak of misery.

[JonLP24]

14. I'm having trouble finding the original article

((It should be noted it was made before Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, RG3, and Russell Wilson entered the league but here is a partial copy of it)

<snip>
To find out if starting as a rookie harms his career prospects, I first estimated the expected level of success for each QB based on his draft slot. Then I compared the group of starting rookies with the group of non-starting rookies in terms of how much they exceed their expected success. To measure career success, I used Adjusted Yards per Attempt (AdjYPA). This is passing yards minus 45 yards for every interception, per pass attempt. All first- and second-round QBs drafted between 1980 and 2004 were included in this analysis.

The first step was to account for potential using overall draft pick number. The graph below plots career AdjYPA by pick number. The regression line estimates what the baseline expectation should be for each slot in the draft. A QB from the top of the first round would be expected to average 5.0 AdjYPA, while a QB from the bottom of the second round would be expected to average 4.1 AdjYPA.

DESCRIPTION

Next I calculated the ‘AdjYPA above expected’ for each QB. Now we can compare QBs who started their first year to those that didn’t, while holding “potential” equal. As it turns out, it appears that QBs with more rookie starts tend to enjoy greater career success, even accounting for draft order. The more starts a rookie has, the better he turns out in the long run.

DESCRIPTION

But this is only one way of looking at whether a QB was a starter or not. What if we draw a line at say, 5 rookie starts — below 5 starts he’s not a rookie starter and above it he is. The group with 5 or less starts averages -0.01 AdjYPA above expected, and the group with 6 or more starts averages +0.3 AdjYPA above expected. If I define it at zero starts, those with no rookie starts averaged -0.03 AdjYPA above expected, while those with at least one start averaged +0.02 above expected. In fact, no matter where I chose the cutoff, from 3 to 13 starts, the group with more starts outperforms the group with fewer starts by about 0.4 AdjYPA.

Does this mean teams should rush their rookies out to face the onslaught of N.F.L. defenses to somehow make them better? I really doubt it. But at the very least, we can say: Given this analysis, there is little reason for a coach to arbitrarily keep a rookie QB on the bench. He should start his best QB, rookie or not, and not worry about incubating him under a ball cap on the sidelines.

http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/statistics-show-theres-no-harm-in-starting-a-rookie-quarterback/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

[KamaAina]

6. Well, he'd better hurry up, then

if history is any guide, he won't have much time to do so.

[caraher]

7. But isn't he?

I'd think most backups go around thinking, "I should be the starter..."

[bluedigger]

11. The last back up to think that in New England is named Brady.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Seems Like Just Talk To Me

Nobody drafts a QB in the first round to be a back up.

Most teams aren't lucky like the Packers were with Rodgers. Have a guy that good sit for a few years and then light up the league.

Patience is in short supply in the NFL, especially for first rounders and the head coaches and GMs who draft them.

[nomorenomore08]

13. On the one hand, I've certainly played "what might have been" RE: the Niners drafting Rodgers

instead of Alex Smith. On the other hand, we did eventually wind up with Kaepernick, who it turns out was a bargain even early in the 2nd round. With his athletic skills he should've been a 1st-rounder, but I guess being from a "small" conference hurt his draft prospects somewhat.

[rocktivity]

15. After the sinking of the S.S. Tebow, they're just being cautious

Last edited Wed Sep 5, 2018, 09:29 PM - Edit history (8)

Why throw him in -- and pay him -- over his head? Let him work his way up from the bottom, especially since humility is such a foreign concept to him:

Over the Memorial Day holiday, Johnny Manziel decided to take a break from the busy life of a rookie NFL quarterback and hit up Sin City with some of his good friends. The partying ways of Manziel seemed to irritate a few who questioned Manziel’s commitment to football...

Regardless, Manziel wasn’t irritated enough to end his trip to Las Vegas early, which likely made the city’s tourism board rather happy...considering the quarterback’s three-day vacation was reportedly worth millions of dollars in publicity...

(A) top club executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, (said)...“It was like when Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods came to town. It meant something. People love a showman. People love to follow that kind of guy. He’s Johnny Football — and he’s a nice guy.” (link)

Uh, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods were worth millions in publicity when they came to town because they EARNED their OWN millions by OUTPERFORMING their "backups". If Johnny Football wants to be worshipped for his "showmanship" the way Tebow wanted to be for his piety, his career is going to be even shorter than Tebow's!

You threw the bums a dime in your prime,
Didn’t you?
People called, said, “Beware, doll,
you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all just
kiddin’ you...
--Bob Dylan

rocktivity